Signal.



. W. J. O'BRIEN.

SIGNAL. APPLICATION FILED 1120.9, 1909.

Patented Nov.8, 1910.

\\\\ lllllllllm WITNESSES:

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WILLIAM J. OBBIEN, LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK.

SIGNAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 8, 1910.

Application filed December '9, 1909. Serial No. 532,195.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM- J. OBRIEN, a citizen of the United States,and residing at Long Island City, in the county of Queens and State ofNew York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements'in Signals,of which the following is a specification, such as will enable thoseskilled in the art to whichit appert-ains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to signals and particularly to signal lights foruse in connection with automobiles to distinctly determine or give theregistered number thereof, and the object of the invention is to providea signal of this class by means of which the number of the vehicle isdetermined by the I use of-colored lenses or panels, each of whichrepresents a certain definite number, said lenses or panels beingadapted to be combined so as to form any desired number; a furtherobject being to provide a signal of the class specified to be usedeither at night or in the daytime, and which in addition to serving as asignal to give the number of an automobile or other vehicle may also beused'for other purposes.

It is a well known fact that colors are more easily remembered thannumbers and especially is this true of certain people and par ticularlyof the young; and this fact has been utilized in the invention whichforms a basis of this application, in which I em loy a plurality oflenses or panels designated by numbers and also distinguished by colors,the saidlenses or panels being also divided into series of differentforms, so as to facilitate the practical application of the invention toeveryday use, and in the practice of my invention, as hereinafterdescribed and claimed, I provide nine lenses or panels, which representthe numerals from 1 to 9 inclusive, and said lenses or panels are distinctly colored, and'are also preferably divided into three series ofthree each, the said series having distinctive characteristics.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate partsof my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters ineach of views, and in which I Figure 1 is a view showing the ninelensesor panels which I employ, and showmg galso corresponding numbers; Fig; 2a front View of a slgnal lantern made according to my invention, andFig. 3 a transverse vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

1n the practice of my invention, as shown in the accompanying drawing, Iprovide nine lenses or panels divided into three separate series asshown in Fig. 1, said series each containing three lenses or panels.These lenses or panels represent, in my invention, the numerals from 1to 9 inclusive," as is also indicated in said figure, and for thepurpose of this description the lenses of the first series aredesignated by the reference characters a, a and a the lenses of' thesecond series by the reference characters I),

b and b and the lenses of the third series by the reference characters0, c and 0 The lenses of each series are also distinctly c0lored thefirst lenses of each series being red, the second lenses of eachserieswhite and the third lenses of each series green, said colors beingones which are mosteasily distinguished when illuminated at nightandalso more easily distinguished in day-light. The'separate series oflenses or panels are also distinctively formed, the first series beingof oblong, rectangular form and being arranged horizontally, while thesecond series are of oblong and rectangulanform and arranged vertically,and the third series being a circular in form.

In constructing a signal lantern, as shown .in Figs. 1 and 2 I place inthe front thereof,

the last of the first series, the first and second of the second series,and the last of the third series of lenses, and these lenses, as will beseen .on reference to Fig. 1, are designated by the numbers 3, 4, 5 and9, and

this combination of lenses in the lantern cl stand for the number 3459,and it will be understood, of course, that this is the registered numberof the vehicle, in connection with which the signal or signal lantern isapplied.

. The use of the device will be readily un- .for' representin theremaining 0 aracters of the number may In practice a lamp or otherilluminator (Z of any preferred construction is placed in the topportion 'of the lantern and illumito read these panels in the daytime.

My inventlon as herein shown and described involves the use of ninepanels or lenses, and this will be suflicient for signaling numbersinvolving not more than nine figures, and this, will be all that isnecessary in most cases, but if it is desired at any time to signalnumbers involving more than nine figures or extending into the billionsa distinctive lens or panel may be employed a b llion or billions Whileand desire to secure by panels being divided into separate series, the

panels of each series being similar in form and differing in form fromthe panels in the other series, and the separate panels of each seriesbeing distinctively colored.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 7th day of December,1909.

I a WILLIAM J. OBRIEN; Witnesses: v G. E. 'MU REANY, B. M. Rransom

